This question is focused on comparative constructions that have a dedicated marker for the standard of comparison that does not fall under the umbrella of the locational comparative (GB266) or surpass/exceed comparative (GB265). Note that a language may have multiple comparative constructions, including a non-locational, non-surpass/exceed comparative as well as constructions that are described by those features.
Crucially, the dedicated marker in this construction must not elsewhere have a surpass/exceed meaning or a locational meaning. It may, however, have other functions (e.g. temporal adverb, conjunction, etc.). It is irrelevant whether this marker is phonologically free or not or whether it triggers agreement in case, noun class, etc.
Historically, comparative constructions with dedicated markers (sometimes called ‘particle comparatives’) grammaticalize from constructions of conjoined clauses. An example of a particle comparative would be the Germanic languages, such as English than. Note that any marking of the property word is not relevant here (e.g. English tall-er).
Gilbertese (ISO 639-3: gil, Glottolog: gilb1244)
Gilbertese forms comparative constructions using the form nakon, which means ‘than’ and does not have a more general locational or surpass/exceed meaning.
e rietaata riki te nii nakon te kaina it tall more ART cococnut.tree than ART pandanus.tree ‘The coconut tree is taller than the pandanus tree.’ (Groves et al. 1985: 69; glosses partly derived from Bingham 1908)
Gilbertese is coded as 1 because the form that marks the standard of comparison in this example has neither a locational meaning nor a surpass exceed meaning. The fact that this marker is used in at least some comparatives is sufficient to trigger a 1 for this feature, regardless of whether there are other comparative constructions that employ markers with locational or surpass/exceed meanings (as it happens, there is no evidence for these other types of comparative markers in Gilbertese).
Stassen, Leon. 1984. The comparative compared. Journal of Semantics 3. 143–182.
Stassen, Leon. 1985. Comparison and Universal Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell.
Ultan, Russell. 1972. Some features of basic comparative constructions. Working Papers on Language Universals 9. 117–162.
Bingham, Hiram. 1908. Gilbertese-English dictionary. Cambridge, MA: The University Press.
Groves, Terab’ata R., Gordon W. Groves & Roderick Jacobs. 1985. Kiribatese: An outline description. (Pacific Linguistics: Series D, 64.) Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
To display the datapoints for a particular language family on the map and on the classification tree, select the family then click "submit".
You may combine this variable with a different variable by selecting on in the list below and clicking "Submit".
| 0 | absent | 724 | |
| 1 | present | 515 | |
| ? | Not known | 950 |
Description
Map
Values